The present invention relates to a feeder and encoding assembly that is used in connection with printers, and it is for ID card image printers that provide for adjustability for the individual card width and thicknesses, and permits encoding either using a magnetic coding, or a proximity coding such as would be used with radio frequency or SmartCard encoding systems.
The prior art has shown various card feeders and encoders, including encoders that will encode or program smart card chips, as well as provide magnetic information on strips carried on cards. The ability to adapt feeders for different size and thickness cards to reliably feed the cards into an encoding station is needed, and the encoder itself has to be able to accommodate such changes in card size, particularly the width of the cards, and variation into location of the encoding media. Present card feeders have problems with card separation, namely reliably feeding only one card at a time, particularly when changing from one card thickness to another.
An example of an encoder arrangement is shown in copending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 08/854,969, filed May 13, 1997, and assigned to the same assignee as this application now U.S. Pat. No. 5,941,522 issued Aug. 24, 1999.